Threadless fork compression system and method for kick style scooter

ABSTRACT

A compression coupler is described that provides a robust and simple mechanism to couple threadless tubes in bicycles and/or scooters. Particularly, the handlebar/stem tube-to-fork joint is coupled with a compression sleeve. The coupler provides more surface area for binding and is tightened along a slot on the length of the coupler. The coupler can include a headtube bearing preloading mechanism, a keyway for aligning the handlebar/stem tube to the fork, and shims to accommodate different sized tubings.

FIELD

The present disclosure is directed to the field of mechanical couplersfor differently sized diameter objects. More particularly, it isdirected to a compression based coupler for robustly binding togetherthe handle bar stem and fork tube of a bicycle or kick style scooter.

BACKGROUND

Non-motorized scooters, particularly of the sort typified by kickscooters are rapidly entering competitive circles for stunt performancesand other extreme forms of competition. Most popular of the kickscooters is the Razor® scooter. The force of activities on a typicalscooter will often result in various parts of the scooter to fail. Ascan be imagined, because of the inherent danger of these stunts, afailed scooter component can result in serious injury to the rider.Therefore, there has been an increasing interest in ruggedizing variouscomponents of the scooter.

One particular area where little attention has been devoted is the jointbetween the stem of the handle bars and the fork of the front wheel. Noone has successfully devised a coupling mechanism that secures thestem-to-fork joint from breaking or severing under extreme loads. Inview of this deficiency, various systems and methods are disclosedherein that provide a simple and yet robust solution to the stem-to-forkjoint problem for bicycles, or kick scooters.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the claimed subject matter. Thissummary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identifykey/critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. Its purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form asa prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, a clamp for binding a handlebarstem tubing to a fork tubing on a bicycle or scooter is provided,comprising, a longitudinal compression sleeve body; a first bore of afirst diameter disposed at an end of the body; a second bore of a seconddiameter disposed at an other end of the body, wherein the first boreand the second bore meet within the body to form a circular lip definedby a difference in the first diameter and second diameter; alongitudinal slot disposed from the first end to the other end of thebody, providing a gap from the first and second bore to an exterior ofthe body; and a tightening mechanism disposed about a portion of thebody, wherein as the tightening mechanism is engaged, a handlebar stemtubing end placed within the first bore and a fork tubing end ofdifferent diameter, placed within the second bore, is secured to thebody.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for binding ahandlebar stem tubing to a fork tubing on a bicycle or scooter isprovided, comprising, placing a fork tubing end into a first diameterbore hole at an end of a compression sleeve body having a seconddiameter bore hole at an other end of the body, wherein the first borehole and the second bore hole meet within the body to form a circularlip defined by a difference in the first and second diameters, the bodyfurther having a longitudinal slot externally disposed from the firstend to the other end of the body communicating to the first and secondbore hole; placing a handlebar stem tubing end into the second diameterbore hole at the other end of the body; and tightening a securingmechanism disposed about a portion of the body to secure the fork tubingand handlebar stem tubing to the body.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a compression clamp forbinding a handlebar stem tubing to a fork tubing on a bicycle or scooteris provided, comprising, a longitudinal compression sleeve body; a firstbore of a first diameter disposed at an end of the body; a second boreof a second diameter disposed at an other end of the body, wherein thefirst bore and the second bore meet within the body to form a circularlip defined by a difference in the first diameter and second diameter; alongitudinal slot disposed from the first end to the other end of thebody, providing a gap from the first and second bore to an exterior ofthe body; and means for tightening the handlebar stem tubing and thefork tubing to the body, disposed about a portion of the body.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a compression clamp forbinding a handlebar stem tubing to a fork tubing on a bicycle or scooteris provided, comprising, a longitudinal compression sleeve body; asingle bore disposed through the body; a longitudinal slot disposed froma first end to an other end of the body, providing a gap from the boreto an exterior of the body; and a compression washer integral to thebody and horizontally disposed at a near longitudinal mid-point of thebore, capable of accommodating a compression bolt, wherein as thetightening mechanism is engaged, a handlebar stem tubing end placedwithin the first bore and a fork tubing end of different diameter,placed within the second bore, is secured to the body.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certainillustrative aspects are described herein in connection with thefollowing description and the annexed drawings. These aspects areindicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciples of the claimed subject matter may be employed and the claimedsubject matter is intended to include all such aspects and theirequivalents. Other advantages and novel features may become apparentfrom the following detailed description when considered in conjunctionwith the drawings. As such, other aspects of the disclosure are foundthroughout the specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and nature of the present disclosure will become moreapparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken inconjunction with the drawings in which reference characters identifycorresponding items and processes throughout.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a kick scooter with an exemplary couplingattached thereto.

FIG. 2 is an expanded view illustration of an exemplary couplingembodiment.

FIGS. 3A-B are front and cross-sectional views of an exemplary couplingembodiment.

FIGS. 4A-E are left, top, right, bottom and front views of an exemplarycoupling embodiment.

FIGS. 5A-C are perspective view, front and cut-away views of anexemplary embodiment.

FIGS. 6A-C are perspective views of exemplary embodiments with varyingnumber of attachment means.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment with anattachment mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosed methods and systems below may be described generally, aswell as in terms of specific examples and/or specific embodiments. Forinstances where references are made to detailed examples and/orembodiments, it should be appreciated that any of the underlyingprincipals described are not to be limited to a single embodiment, butmay be expanded for use with any of the other methods and systemsdescribed herein as will be understood by one of ordinary skill in theart unless otherwise stated specifically.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a freestyle kick scooter 10 with anexemplary compression coupling 16 attached thereto. An exemplarycompression coupling 16 is externally mounted to a threadlessstem-to-fork joint and spans a greater surface area of the stem 14 andfork (shown internal to head tube 18) resting on headset bearings 17.Handlebar alignment channel 15, as further described below, is shown onthe bottom of stem 14. With more secured surface area, the exemplarycoupling 16 provides a simple and robust coupling mechanism, enablingstunt activities to performed without fear of separation of thestem-to-fork joint. Various details of exemplary embodiments of thecompression coupling 16 are expounded upon below.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an expanded view of an exemplarycompression coupler 20, having optional threaded compression bolt 25,compression washer 29 and threaded fork insert 27. The exemplarycompression coupler 20 of this embodiment is shown as an open endedcompression sleeve 31 having an inner opening 32 with an interiorprofile (not shown) of two different bore diameters for matchingdifferently sized stem and fork tubing, and a compression accommodatinggap 33. Optional keyway 34 is provided in opening 32 for an optionalalignment key 35 to allow aligning the tubings, as further detailedbelow.

A series of bolts 38 for tightening the compression accommodating gap 33of the exemplary compression coupler 20 are shown with matching holes 36distributed along the axis of the compression sleeve 31. Though thebolts 38 are illustrated as having hexagonal keyed heads (e.g., Allenheads) for tightening (to nuts or threads, not shown) by a hexagonalwrench (e.g., Allen wrench), any bolt type/style or tightening mechanismmay be used without departing from the spirit and scope of thisdisclosure. Accordingly, the bolts 38 may be screws, threaded,non-threaded, or any mechanism that provides a tightening capability. Insome embodiments, after applying an arbitrary mechanism to tighten thecompression accommodating gap 33, a rivet may be utilized to prevent thecompression accommodating gap 33 from being “untightened.”

FIG. 3A is a view of an exemplary compression coupler 20 attached to astem 22 and fork 24 at a near mid-point of the exemplary compressioncoupler 20. FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view along the cut line A-A ofFIG. 3A, showing the different diameters of stem 22 and fork 24. Theprofile of the interior side of the exemplary compression coupler 20 isgenerally symmetric, whereas the right side is not visible due to cutline A-A being centered through optional keyway 34. However, if stem 22and fork 24 are smaller in diameter than the inner bore diameters of theexemplary compression sleeve 20, an appropriately sized shim can beinserted, as detailed below.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in some scooters, a channel 15 of apredetermined depth will be longitudinally cut into the stem and thefork for use as handlebar alignment registration to align the stem (andby inference, the handlebars) with the fork. This handlebar alignmentchannel 15 is typically cut into the “front” of both the stem and fork.By aligning the optional keyway 34 with the handlebar alignment channel15, the alignment key 35 can be placed into the handlebar alignmentchannel and into the aligned optional keyway 34, to constrain rotationof the stem from the fork, when the exemplary compression coupler 20 istightened.

By use of an appropriately sized alignment key 35 in concert withoptional keyway 34, the exemplary compression coupler 20 can be used toeasily align a stem and fork tubing. Of course, in some embodiments, theoptional keyway 34 or alignment key 35 may not be necessary, dependingon the alignment mechanism provided in the stem and fork.

As shown, optional threaded compression bolt 25, compression washer 29and threaded fork insert 27 can be utilized to further assist inrestraining the exemplary compression coupler 20 to the fork 24. Inoperation, compression washer 29 is placed on top of a lip 30 formed bythe junction of different bore holes in the exemplary compression clamp20. The threaded compression bolt 25 is then engaged with the threadedfork insert 27 and tightened to cause expansion legs 27 a of threadedfork insert 27 to be pulled against the fork 24, thus securing theexemplary compression clamp 20 (joined by threaded compression bolt 25and compression washer 29) to fork 24 (joined by threaded fork insert27).

It should be appreciated that while the threaded fork insert 27 is shownwith expansion legs 27 a, any lateral force inducing apparatus may beutilized. Therefore, modifications to the type of threaded fork insert27 and associated elements are understood to be within the purview ofone of ordinary skill in the art.

It is also understood that in most embodiments, an air gap of some sortbetween the compression washer 29 and the fork 24 is necessitated, toallow the fork 24 to freely move slightly upward as it is being engagedby the threaded fork insert 27, particularly for preloading purposes.Specifically speaking, the optional threaded compression bolt 25,compression washer 29 and threaded fork insert 27 can be used to“pre-load” the headset bearings 17 (see FIG. 1). By way of example, whenthe exemplary compression coupler 20 is fitted onto the scooter, theoptional alignment key 35 can be used to keep all the components in linewith each other. When the stem 22 is removed from the top bore hole ofthe exemplary compression coupler 20, the threaded compression bolt 25,compression washer 29 and threaded fork insert 27 can be inserted intothe top bore of the exemplary compression coupler 20, with thecompression washer 29 resting on a lip 30 formed by the junction of thetwo diameter bores in the exemplary compression coupler 20. Thereafter,the threaded compression bolt 25 can be tightened against the threadedfork insert 27 to cause the fork 24 to be pulled toward the compressionwasher 29, resulting in preloading the headset bearings 17 and removingundesired looseness from the headset bearings 17. Once the appropriatelooseness is removed, the stem 22 can be placed into the top bore of theexemplary compression coupler 20 and tightened via the threaded bolts38.

It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, it may be desirableto have the threaded compression bolt 25, compression washer 29 andthreaded fork insert 27 fixed in the exemplary compression coupler 20.That is, rather than being an optional fixture, the compression washer29 may be milled or fabricated as an integral, fixed part of theexemplary compression coupler 20, with the threaded compression bolt 25and threaded fork insert 27 attached thereto. Therefore, where headsetbearing loading is desired, in some embodiments the exemplarycompression coupler 20 may come pre-configured with the compressionwasher 29.

In some embodiments, the compression washer 29 may not rest on a lip 30,but in an exemplary compression coupler 30 that has a single borediameter throughout, be positioned at a near mid-point of the bore.Therefore, in this instance, without a lip 30 to rest on, thecompression washer 29 may be fabricated to be integral to the exemplarycompression coupler 30

FIGS. 4A-4E are left, top, right, right, bottom and front views,respectively, of an exemplary compression coupler 20. In FIG. 4B anoptional circular shim 52 is inserted into the top of inner opening 32 aand resting on lip 30. Optional shim 52 provides a convenient mechanismto allow the exemplary compression coupler 20 to fit stem tubing thatmay be smaller in diameter than the respective bore of the exemplarycompression coupler 20. Also, an appropriately sized shim (not shown)may be utilized on the bottom opening 32 b (FIG. 4D), if so desired.Shim 52 is shown with gap 54 to allow the shim 52 to compress as theexemplary compression coupler 20 is tightened. As evident in the bottomview, the opening 32 b is of a smaller diameter than the opening 32 a inthe top view. This is consistent with the practice of scootermanufacturers using a larger tube size for the stem than the fork.

FIGS. 5A-C are perspective, front and cut-away views of additionalembodiments of an exemplary compression coupler 20 having a built incompression washer 29 a, with a shim 52 having a slot for amulti-extensioned alignment key 35 a having extensions 35 b and 35 c.FIG. 5C illustrates the shim 52 with “upper” 52 a and “lower” 52 b crosssectional portions breeched by alignment key extension 35 b, and crosssectional portion 52 c opposite the alignment key 35 a. The upperextension 35 b of alignment key 35 a can be used to align the stem whilethe lower extension 35 c can be used to align the fork. These viewsillustrate the ability to craft a shim 52 a with slots to allowalignment using the alignment key 35 a, as well as the ability to have acompression washer 29 a as an integral part of the exemplary compressioncoupler 20.

FIGS. 6A-C are elevated perspective views of additional embodiments ofthe exemplary compression coupler, each having a different number ofholes for tightening the exemplary compression coupler. It is noted thatFIG. 5B shows the optional shim 52 inserted. These views illustrate theability to vary the number of holes/threaded bolts, if so desired.Accordingly, as different number of holes may be used, it is understoodthat a completely different mechanism for tightening/attachment, otherthan the use of threaded bolts or the like, may be contemplated aswithin the scope of this disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another exemplary compression coupler 70showing various other types of applicable attachment mechanisms. Oneattachment mechanism is non-threaded and is shown as a set ofpull-binding/releasable clasps 68. Though two pull-binding/releasableclasps 68 are shown, it is understood that more or less clasps may beimplemented according to clasp design or binding strength preference.FIG. 6 also illustrates the use of threaded set screws 74 and set screwholes 76 as a mechanism for alignment, the number of which and positionmay be varied, as desired.

As is apparent, innumerable types and kinds of attachment mechanismsknown to one of ordinary skill in the art can be utilized, eitherindividually or in combination. As another example of a suitableattachment mechanism well known in the bicycle arts is a “quick release”axle. Other modifications may be contemplated including altering thepositions of the attachment mechanisms, as well as modifying the shapeor size of the body 72 of the exemplary compression coupler body.

In view of the disclosure provided above, various modifications may bemade to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit andscope therein. For example, it is contemplated that the compressionsleeve may be a machined product or a molded product, or even acombination of the two, if so desired. Therefore, the exemplarycompression sleeve may be formed from a metal and/or plastic material,fiberglass, carbon-based, and so forth, depending on design preference.In the interests of minimizing weight, the exemplary compression sleevemay be manufactured from aluminum stock or other light metal, or even asuitable plastic material. Also, the exemplary compression coupler maybe varied in size, having a thinner profile, or shorter height,according to design preference.

In various embodiments for ready use with current kick style scooters,the exemplary compression coupler may be designed to have a height ofapproximately one to six inches with an internal bore diameter ofapproximately 1⅛ inches progressing approximately 50% of the depth ofthe exemplary compression coupler. The remaining depth of the exemplarycompression coupler contains another internal bore having an approximatediameter of anywhere between 1¼ to 1⅜ inches. The gap of the exemplarycompression coupler may be accomplished with a vertical slot of anywherefrom ⅛ to ⅜ inches.

The above dimensions are provided to illustrate that the exemplarycompression coupler can be fitted to current kick style scooters,according to the standard tube dimensions current used by industry. Theabove dimensions are therefore illustrative and do not represent all thepossible dimensions that may be used, as the appropriate dimensions areprincipally a function of the tubing sizes found on a scooter.Therefore, while various descriptions are provided in the context of akick scooter, the exemplary compression coupler may be used for otherman-powered vehicles. Accordingly, modification of the sizes may be madeto accommodate the exemplary compression coupler to differently sizedbicycle joints, as needed.

Also, it should be appreciated that while the various exemplaryembodiments shown herein illustrate an interior profile of the exemplarycompression coupler as having a “smooth” surface, non-smooth profiles orsurfaces may be utilized without departing from the spirit and scopeherein. For example, ridges, scoring, marking, and so forth may beapplied to the interior profile of the exemplary compression coupler toprovide an interior surface with increased gripping capabilities.Additionally, shim 52 may be differently sized, encompassing only aportion of the interior of the exemplary compression coupling.

What has been described above includes examples of one or moreembodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes ofdescribing the aforementioned embodiments, but one of ordinary skill inthe art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations ofvarious embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the described embodimentsare intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications andvariations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in eitherthe detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to beinclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising”is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

1.-13. (canceled)
 14. A method for binding a handlebar stem tubing to afork tubing on a bicycle or scooter, comprising: placing a fork tubingend into a first diameter bore hole at an end of a longitudinalcompression sleeve body having a second diameter bore hole at an otherend of the body, wherein the first bore hole and the second bore holemeet within the body to form a circular lip defined by a difference inthe first and second diameters, the body further having a longitudinalslot along the entire body, communicating to the first and second borehole, and having a compression washer having a diameter greater than thefirst diameter, disposed upon the lip, and having a compression boltwith a head and threads coupled to the compression washer, the headwithin a larger of the first and second bores of the body and thethreads within a smaller of the first and second bores of the body, andhaving a gripping element coupled to the threads of the compressionbolt, within the smaller of the first and second bores of the body andadapted to grip an interior of a fork tubing inserted within the smallerbore of the body, wherein as the compression bolt is tightened, thegripping element axially pulls the inserted fork tubing towards thelarger bore of the body; placing a handlebar stem tubing end into thelarger bore hole of the body; placing a fork tubing into the smallerbore hole of the body; and tightening a securing mechanism disposedabout a portion of the body to secure the fork tubing and handlebar stemtubing to the body.
 15. (canceled)
 16. The method of claim 14, whereinthe compression washer is integral to the lip of the body.
 17. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising inserting a keyway into a keywayslot formed along a perimeter of the first and second diameter boreholes, opposite the securing mechanism, wherein the keyway has a firstuniform thickness and a second uniform thickness, an intersection of thefirst and second uniform thicknesses providing a horizontal edgeapproximate to the compression washer. 18.-21. (canceled)